In praise of palms

I recently had the pleasure of visiting a hidden garden gem in the suburbs of Melbourne, the garden of Jo Wilkins, aka ‘The Palm Lady’.

As I wandered around her impressive collection of palms, I was reminded of my
own visit to Mauritius some years ago and my musings on the value of these underutilised garden plants. As we had breakfast, enjoying the rustling leaves of the coconut palm, it started me thinking that if there was just one plant allowed in paradise, this would have to be it. Its leaves can be woven and used as roofing, its wood can replace timber for walls, coconut water is a refreshing drink, and it can be made into a milky dessert or dried as a food. Its husks make ropes and its meal is a source of hair oil.

Modern cultivars are short, fast growing and they love salty winds, hence floating coconuts have spread everywhere in the coastal tropics. But the coconut palm needs a tropical climate (a minimum of 24°C), which prevents its cultivation from the southern coast of NSW all the way to Perth. But thankfully, there are many more palms to choose from than the coconut palm, with many thriving in
temperatures down to freezing.

Are palms trees?

Palms are more akin to grasses than trees. They are monocots that produce a single seedling leaf when germinating, as opposed to trees like oaks and eucalypts that are dicots and produce two seed leaves. Palms also differ from trees in that they only reproduce from seed and will only gain height when a certain trunk diameter is reached. For this reason, they are very well suited to small gardens because few palms grow wider than four metres. To put it another way, a 20-metre front garden width could provide space for five to six palms, compared with only one or two trees.

The right climate

Palms are an excellent planting solution for a warming climate and are suitable to urban backyards, with various species thriving from Perth to Melbourne and others, like the coconut, to the north. Few thrive in the deserts (with the exception of the iconic fruiting date palm). Most species don’t survive heavy frosts but within 100 kilometres of the coast where 95% of Australian gardeners
live they are potentially the first choice for backyard gardeners looking for fast and manageable shade.

Even in the tiniest backyard they provide shade, a lush green tropical look and require less maintenance and care than many broad-leafed trees. The world’s most popular garden palm, the Kentia palm, comes from Lord Howe Island, east of Port Macquarie, and will grow outside in a shaded position in all mainland Australian capital cities.

Over the last 20 years, Jo has stimulated great interest in growing palms. Her average-sized backyard has over 100 palms and was featured on Gardening Australia a few years back. Her garden demonstrates wonderfully how the lush green foliage from her initial plantings provides shade for lower growing ferns and other foliage plants, making for an oasis in the suburbs.

Jo Wilkins’ top 10 for the passionate palmist

• Beccariophoenix alfredii

• Brahea armata

• Butia catarinensis

• Chamaerops humilis argentea

• Dypsis baronii

• Linospadix monostachya

• Livistona decora

• Parajubaea sunkha

• Sabal minor

• Trachycarpus wagnerianus

Written by Clive Blazey, co-founder of The Diggers Club and The Diggers Foundation.